First, here is the original iconic scene from Risky Business (1983):

Next, here is one of the commercials for Guitar Hero: World Tour which stars athletes Kobe Bryant (NBA basketball), Alex Rodriguez (MLB baseball), Michael Phelps (Olympic swimmer) and Tony Hawk (skateboarding icon):

Fun stuff. All you have to hear are those first couple of piano chords and you immediately know that the likelihood of someone sliding into the doorway wearing only their underwear and a dress shirt is high.

Now there are rumors of a "Guitar Hero Curse" because in the time since this particular commercial was released Alex Rodriguez has had a past steroids issue come to light and Michael Phelps had a picture of him smoking from a marijuana pipe become public. Two out of the four athletes are in a bit of hot water. Kobe Bryant has already had his share of problems whether it was with the sexual assault accusations in Colorado back in 2003 or his more recent public riff with former teammate Shaq. Will Kobe find himself in more trouble due to this "curse" or will it be nice guy Tony Hawk? If I was Tony Hawk, I would lay low for a while just in case.

(On a side note, for all of those people who are only seeing the bad publicity that Michael Phelps has received since that photo became public, you might want to read this heartwarming article that shows that he still has many of the hero qualities we loved when he was breaking Olympic records this past summer.)

"Guitar Hero" might be the hottest franchise in the world right now, but the game's maker Activision Blizzard just recently announced a $72 million loss for the fourth quarter. How does that happen? Either way, I like the commercial with the athletes above, but I am a little more partial to the version starring beautiful supermodel Heidi Klum:

I hope she is not affected by the "curse" too. While we are covering that scene from Risky Business, I thought I would also include this scene from one of my favorite sitcoms, Scrubs, which paid an homage to Tom Cruise in his underwear:

This is another example of a piece of 80s gold still having considerable pop culture relevance over 25 years later. Gotta love that!

That's all for another issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks as always for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column to find any other issues you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the new Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: A Utah woman listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for her long fingernails has lost them in a car crash (February 10, 2009). Lee Redmond of Salt Lake City sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries in the accident Tuesday.
Redmond's nails, which hadn't been cut since 1979, were broken in the crash. According to the Guinness Web site, her nails measured a total of more than 28 feet long in 2008, with the longest nail on her right thumb at 2 feet, 11 inches.
Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Don Hutson says Redmond was ejected from an SUV in the crash and taken to the hospital in serious condition.
Redmond has been featured on TV in episodes of "Guinness Book of World Records" and "Ripley's Believe It or Not." The picture shown here was Redmond back in 2006 when the finger nails were each about 30 inches long. Kinda gross if you ask me. Wonder if she loses the record now they have broken off and wonder if she will grow them back out again? She must not have had a job that required typing (or doing anything with her hands for that matter).

Quote of the day: "The more things are forbidden, the more popular they become." -Mark Twain